Charles Sumner
Charles Sumner
Charles Sumnerwas an American politician and senator from Massachusetts. As an academic lawyer and a powerful orator, Sumner was the leader of the antislavery forces in Massachusetts and a leader of the Radical Republicans in the United States Senate during the American Civil War working to destroy the Confederacy, free all the slaves, and keep on good terms with Europe. During Reconstruction, he fought to minimize the power of the ex-Confederates and guarantee equal rights to the freedmen...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth6 January 1811
CountryUnited States of America
Whatever may be the temporary applause of men, or the expressions of public opinion, it may be asserted without fear of contradiction, that no true and permanent fame can be founded, except in labors which promote the happiness of mankind.
The true grandeur of humanity is in moral elevation, sustained, enlightened and decorated by the intellect of man
War is a positive, precise and specific evil, of gigantic proportions ...making within the sphere of its influence all true grandeur impossible.
The press, watchful with more than the hundred eyes of Argus, strong with more than the hundred arms of Briareus, not only guards all the conquests of civilization, but leads the way to future triumphs.
There is the National Flag. He must be cold, indeed, who can look upon its folds rippling in the breeze without pride of country. If he be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship and country itself, with all its endearment...The very colors have a language which was recognized by our fathers; white is for purity; red, for valor; blue, for justice. And altogether, bunting, stripes, stars, and colors, blazing in the sky, make the flag of our country, to be cherished by all our hearts, to be upheld by all our hands.
I have never known a man who was sensual in his youth, who was high-minded when old.
Can there be in our age any peace that is not honorable, any war that is not dishonorable?
By the Law of Slavery, man, created in the image of God, is divested of the human character, and declared to be a mere chattel.
The thought of going abroad makes my heart leap.
The highest greatness, surviving time and stone, is that which proceeds from the soul of man. Monarchs and cabinets, generals and admirals, with the pomp of court and the circumstance of war, in the lapse of time disappear from sight; but the pioneers of truth, though poor and lowly, especially those whose example elevates human nature, and teaches the rights of man, so that "a government of the people, by the people, for the people, may not perish from the earth;" such a harbinger can never be forgotten, and their renown spreads co-extensive with the cause they served so well.
Nothing from man's hands, nor law, nor constitution, can be final. Truth alone is final.
Whether the Union stands or falls, I believe the profession of arms will henceforth be more desirable and more respected than it has been hitherto.
Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.
War crushes with bloody heel all justice, all happiness, all that is Godlike in man. In our age there can be no peace that is not honorable; there can be no war that is not dishonorable.